Runnicles laureates are off and running – JH News&Guide

Bass-baritone Brian Wacker, who graduated from Cheyenne East High School, earned his bachelor’s degree in music from Oberlin College and Conservatory and is currently training with the Metropolitan Opera’s Keith Miller. He’s getting ready to apply to graduate schools and is preparing for a production of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.”

Pianist Truman Walker, who grew up outside of Boise, Idaho, performed his senior recital and graduated in May from the New England Conservatory. He plans to continue to study with his teacher, Wha Kyung Byun.

And then there’s Tanner Jorden, of Billings, Montana. Jorden graduated from Brigham Young University in 2025 and is now balancing graduate studies at Juilliard with performing with his violinist wife Caroline, his Aspen Grove Trio and with various orchestras. He performed last weekend in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra.

Those are just three stories from past finalists in the Donald Runnicles Musical Arts Scholarship Competition. Funded by anonymous donors to honor the music director on his tenth anniversary with the Festival, the competition is open to graduating high school seniors from Wyoming, Idaho or Montana who plan to pursue a degree in music. Finalists are awarded scholarships of $10,000, $15,000 and $25,000. New this year, the first-prize winner also will get the chance to perform with the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra.

But the rewards of doing well in the competition extend beyond scholarship dollars.

“It was the most significant competition and experience I’ve had,” said Walker, who took first place in 2022 at the age of 16. “It helped so much, not only the scholarship but also the whole experience with all the other people and friends I made. … I’m so lucky to have done it.”

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